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The Problems in College Student’s Writing Elizabeth [email protected] Abstract: English writing is a comprehensive test of the English ability. Based on the mistakes of college English Writing ,the paper analyzed the causes of them and put forward with some suggestions aiming at improving student’s writing skills. Key word: college English writing problems solution With China's rapid economic development and its reform and opening up furthering, the exchanges between China and other countries of the world have become increasingly frequent; therefore English Writing is attracting people’s more attention than before. In the process of English learning, most students keen to memorizing words, syntax, and reading articles, thus being lack of writing ability. Some common mistakes typically classified is as follows: 1. lexical problem 1.1 pronoun. indicating vaguely In the use of the pronoun such as "it", "he", "this" and "that", many students may be very clear about which these pronouns indicate in their minds, yet the expressions in the articles fail to be , resulting in ambiguities. E.g.(false)People have been fighting against the influence of TV commercials, but it often proves useless. (true)People have been fighting against the influence of TV commercials, but this often proves useless. Review: what dose it refer to? It is obviously unreasonable to refer to "influence", and according to the context, "it" should mean former clause. This is the inappropriate use of pronouns. 1.2 misuse of conjunctions 1.21 run-on sentence Two or more independent clauses are separated by commas or there is no punctuation between them, thus creating the "run-on sentence." Such as : Eg1.(false)One should improve his English, one should overcome difficulties in studies. (true)If one wants to improve his English, he should overcome difficulties in studies. Eg2.(false)I ran to the door my sister is in her room. Suddenly she bursts into tears. (true)As I ran to the door, my sister is in her room. Suddenly she bursts into tears. 1.22 mistakes in collocation of conjunctions There are great differences in collocation of conjunctions between Chinese and English Eg3 (false) Though my family is not rich, but I love it. (false) In spite of my family is not rich ,but we live a happy life. (true) Though my family is not rich, I love it. (true) In spite of my family is not rich , we live a happy life. 1.3 difficulties in distinguishing similar words In Chinese, adverbs and adjectives do not have many form changes, while in English, adjectives or adverbs should be changed correspondingly according to the different components used in sentences. Therefore Chinese students find it hard to adapt to this, they often make them confused. Eg (false) I am very luck. (lucky) (false) My mother is kindly. (kind) (false)My family life is hardly. (hard) 1.4 displace modifier In English if the modifier is placed in different location, then the sentence means differently. Chinese students usually do not take the location of modifier seriously enough, resulting in unnecessary misunderstandings. Below are some errors students made in locating "just" and "only" which are very familiar to them. Eg1.(false) Just he suggested that we leave early. (Actually ,the student wants to express “He just suggested that we leave early”) Eg2 (false) Only I asked the girl for her name. (In fact, the student intends to say “I asked only the girl for her name.”) Review: Chinese students are not good at using conjunction or adverb transition to express the logical relation among sentences so the false examples above are unreasonable. As previously mentioned English is a form-oriented language, students who are learning English writing must pay attention to this linguistic phenomenon. Actually Chinese syntactic features in the mind of students have the impact on the learning of English. 2. grammatical problem 2.1 agreements Eg1(false)Whether one enjoys or resents advertisements, we are actually bomb-barded with it every hour of the day. (true)Whether we enjoy or resent advertisements, we are actually bombarded with them every hour of the day. Eg2.(false)The eating habit of Chinese people have changed dramatically in the past decade. (true)The eating habit of Chinese people has changed dramatically in the past decade. Review: The inconsistency between subject and predicate is a common problem with Chinese student’s writing, especially the subject is the third person singular, for in Chinese there is no consistency, and this is a kind of relocation of negative in the process of language learning . 2.2 tense Eg1.(false)Riding bicycles had more advantages than taking a bus. (true)Riding bicycles has more advantages than taking a bus. Eg2.(false)Now more and more people were fond of traveling. (true)Now more and more people are fond of traveling. Review: The misuse of tense in writing is a very prominent problem, mainly manifested in the arbitrary use of the past tense. The reason is that Chinese relied mainly on the adverb to indicate tense, not through the reflectional changes of verbs. Therefore, the students use past tense to refer to any time. 2.3 voice Eg1 (false)Opportunities are belonged to those who work hard. (true)Opportunities belong to those who work hard. E.g. 2(false)Great changes are being taken place now. (true)Great changes are taking place now. Review: There are two main reasons for misuse of voice . One is that students are not clear about the distinction between the transitive verb or intransitive verb. Second, students fail to master five basic types in English Sentence. 2.4 participle(past present) Eg1 (false)Comparing with other countries, China pays little attention to the energy problem. (true)Compared with other countries, China pays little attention to the energy problem. Eg2 (false) Looking at the top of the hill, the school is large. (true)Seen at the top of the hill, the school is large Solution : In order to address the mistakes above, teachers should concentrate time and energy on comparing the differences between English conjunction and pronoun and those of Chinese. By citing examples, focus training, teachers should ask students to practice as much as possible to avoid the mistakes. 3.English coined by Chinese students Chinese English is a prevalent phenomenon in the English writing .The fundamental reason is that Chinese students as English learners are lack of knowledge about English language, so they put English stuffing into the model of Chinese language and translate Chinese into English word for word. For example, they express "fighting a person's face" as "hit somebody's face" (should be "hit somebody in the face "). Learners should know that people of different races have different thinking model, and that the totally equivalent two languages don’t exist. Solution : In order to deal with the Chinese English ,students should gain more knowledge of English, contrast the similarities and differences between two languages. Learners should also memorize amounts of set phrases and expressions and put them into practice when write English paper, adapting to the English habits.